27-04-21, 09:41 AM
I laid my mothers patio, 25yrs ago using slabs think they were Marshall, can't remember. It's still in good condition, no subsidence, loose or cracked slabs, ice damage or loose/missing grouting.
As with most things it's all in the prep, the materials used and what you're laying on, i.e. clay, earth etc. Her ground was stable earth, I dug out the top soil to a depth (all approx) of 200mm, 100mm of (I used brick as I'd knocked down a wall hence the thickness) compacted hard core. Using pegged string marked out the finished height which is sloping away an to one corner. Using a mixer I mixed concrete and laid it in slab size lumps 50mm thick, laying each slab in turn, with a 10mm gap, leveling to the string. I made sure there was no gaps between each lump of concrete, this stops water ingress and ants
Left it 24hrs, the gourting/pointing call it what you will, slight damp pointing cement mix, it must just be damp, so as it won't stick/hold together if you squeeze it in your hand. Lay the mix along the slab gaps and work the mix in using a pointing tool, make sure it's pushed well in, finish off the surface in the normal pointing (go for grooved helps drain water) manner, once complete sweep off the unused mix Depending on the size of your patio you may have to point/sweep in sections. Once sweeped using a sponge wash each slab to remove unset cement.
Left it another 24hrs, job done. You could use stone chippings as hard core and the base would be thinner, I used broken brick as I had it to hand. As mentioned 25yrs and it's still as good as new.
As with most things it's all in the prep, the materials used and what you're laying on, i.e. clay, earth etc. Her ground was stable earth, I dug out the top soil to a depth (all approx) of 200mm, 100mm of (I used brick as I'd knocked down a wall hence the thickness) compacted hard core. Using pegged string marked out the finished height which is sloping away an to one corner. Using a mixer I mixed concrete and laid it in slab size lumps 50mm thick, laying each slab in turn, with a 10mm gap, leveling to the string. I made sure there was no gaps between each lump of concrete, this stops water ingress and ants
Left it 24hrs, the gourting/pointing call it what you will, slight damp pointing cement mix, it must just be damp, so as it won't stick/hold together if you squeeze it in your hand. Lay the mix along the slab gaps and work the mix in using a pointing tool, make sure it's pushed well in, finish off the surface in the normal pointing (go for grooved helps drain water) manner, once complete sweep off the unused mix Depending on the size of your patio you may have to point/sweep in sections. Once sweeped using a sponge wash each slab to remove unset cement. Left it another 24hrs, job done. You could use stone chippings as hard core and the base would be thinner, I used broken brick as I had it to hand. As mentioned 25yrs and it's still as good as new.
Later